Some winners of the 2014 World Architecture news (WAN) Awards have been announced, with winning designs from around the world including Denmark, the US, India, Germany and the UK.

The Everyman Theatre in Liverpool, UK, designed by Haworth Tompkins, took out the Performing Spaces category. Conceived as an exemplar of sustainable good practice, the existing building was carefully dismantled, its 19th century bricks reused as the shell of the new auditorium and the timbers for the new roof structure.

As a result, the new technically advanced and highly adaptable theatre was able to retain the friendly, democratic accessibility of the old building, whilst projecting the organisation’s values of cultural inclusion, community engagement and local creativity.

Image: Philip Vile

Image: Philip Vile

The Concrete in Architecture prize went to Germany’s MBA/S Matthas Bauer Associates for Villa H36, a house shaped entirely of insulating concrete – the first of its kind in the country. Its perimeter walls and faceted roof makes innovative use of the material for seamless construction, as well as to eliminate additive thermal barriers.

Villa H36 by MBA/S

Although it ultimately lost out to Villa H36 in the Concrete in Architecture category, Australia’s Allen Jack+Cottier (AJ+C) also scored big at the awards, with the jury highly commending their Kerrie Murphy Building for the International Grammar School in Sydney, NSW.

Image: supplied

Consisting of an arts and crafts facility, a library, staff offices and an indoor sports hall, the building features glazed amorphous openings which appear like perfectly formed droplets of water on its surface.

This naturally ventilated, mixed mode building also features 50mm of high-density polystyrene embedded in the precast composite panels to retain heat. The fully glazed panels were transported to site, with VHB structural glazing tape used to stick the glass to the building – a move AJ+C believes is the first application of its kind in the world.

The roof is to become an outdoor playground shaded by an array of photovoltaic cells.

“Amazed by the technical achievement of the building, judges have awarded it a ‘Highly Commended’ status for its achievements in the field,” said WAN. “The entire building is made up of only four pieces of concrete per floor; each piece is not only vast but also ready to erect on site in the lightning time of 3.5 hours per floor.”

Dubbed ‘the world’s largest architectural awards programme’, the WAN awards is an ongoing program, with nominations currently open for more categories. To find out more, please visit World Architecture News.

List of winners so far:

Education 2014

Completed Projects

Children’s Culture House Ama’r, Cophenhagen, Denmark – Dorte Madrup Arkitekter

Image: Jens Lindhe

Image: Jens Lindhe

Future projects

Syracuse University Energy Campus, Syracuse, New York, United States – ROGERSPARTNERS Architects+Urban Designers

Healthcare

Completed Projects

Meander Medical Centre, Amersfoort, Netherlands – atelier PRO architekten

Future projects

Odense University Hospital & Faculty of Health Sciences, Odense, Denmark – Henning Larsen Architects

21 for 21

Chrysalis, United States – MARC FORNES & THEVERYMANY

sP+a (Sameep Padora & Associates), Mumbai, India – sP+a

Shiv Temple. Image: Edmund Sumner

Shiv Temple. Image: Edmund Sumner

Glass in Architecture

Apple Store, Stanford, Palo Alto, United States – Bohlin Cywinski Jackson

Image: Hufton + Crow

Image: Hufton + Crow

Westchester Reform Temple, Scarsdale, New York, United States – ROGERSPARTNERS Architects + Urban Designers

Image: Paul Warchol

Image: Paul Warchol

Concrete in Architecture

Villa H36, Stuttgart, Germany – MBA/S Matthias Bauer Associates

Highly commended

Kerrie Murphy Building, Sydney, Australia – Allen Jack+Cottier

Performing Spaces

Everyman Theatre, Liverpool, United Kingdom – Haworth Tompkins

Images courtesy of WAN

Geraldine Chua

Australia-s-AJ-C-leaves-its-mark-at-World-Architec-1732031551.png

Let’s connect!